World Market's Chocolate Peppermint

It's the time of year when our minds turn to Christmas coffee... and then, we post about the coffee we drink, so we can help YOU have a Merry Caffeinated Christmas Season!

WORLD MARKET: CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT

This is the second year in a row where we've featured reviews of Christmas-themed flavored coffees here at Shades of Gray. Last year, the Holiday Season was dominated by Bones Coffee flavors (with Eggnog and Jingle Bones being the faves, which you should also check out if you have a chance), but this year we're sampling offerings from a few different roasters, leading off with another of World Market's house-blends.

Coffee with peppermint flavor is not a favorite here at Shades of Gray, but, since it's a Christmas standard we'd be failing all you fine folks out there if we didn't give it a try during the Season of Joy. Did we find joy in our cups, though?

Yes... with World Market's Chocolate Peppermint, we did. But we think this coffee will bring you even more comfort and joy that it did us if you're a lover of peppermint.

First off, when the sample pack from which our test-pot was brewed was opened, the aroma of coffee mixed with chocolate and peppermint rose into the air. The smells were evenly mixed, and we hoped they carried a promise of a similarly balanced flavor profile.

As we put the blend through our usual taste-tests, we found that, as is often the case, the flavors shifted depending on what we mixed with the coffee.

When the coffee was consumed hot and black, the dominate flavor was that of a mellow, medium-roast coffee--probably one based in Colombian beans. The peppermint flavor was there as an undertone, but it grew stronger in our mouths the more we drank. In fact, the peppermint flavor stayed in our mouths long after we'd finished our cups of coffee. The same held true when this blend was consumed with Unsweetened Almond Milk added--the peppermint flavor grows the more of this you drink, and it stays in your mouth even after the coffee is all gone. If you want peppermint, this brings the peppermint!

But what about the chocolate, you may be wondering. Well, there was no detectable chocolate flavor when this blend was consumed black, nor when the unsweetened almond milk was added. This was disappointing, because the blend is called Chocolate Peppermint. That said--the small print (which says that this is "a festive holiday mix of peppermint and chocolate flavors") does put peppermint first, so that is kinda-sorta setting the record straight. In the spirit of being charitable, what with this being the Christmas Season and all...

The chocolate flavor showed up when we mixed this coffee with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. It added a nice dimension to drink, with the tartness of the peppermint blending nicely with both the chocolate tones and the sweetened cream flavor. However, as the cups were drained, the peppermint once again came to dominate and continued to remain in our mouths until we got rid of it by drinking some water.

As the blend cooled to room temperature, the peppermint flavor grew more dominant, regardless of what we'd mixed the coffee with. So, if you're a fan of peppermint, drinking this coffee at a leisurely pace is definitely the way to go!

Finally, when this blend is consumed iced, initially the only flavor that's evident is that of coffee with a slight saltiness. This is true whether the coffee is consumed black, with Unsweetened Almond Milk, or with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. As our cups were drained, a mild peppermint flavor emerged and lingered in our mouths for a bit. It was nowhere near as strong as it had been with previous cups, but it was still enough to bring truth to the name of the blend. Well, except for the chocolate. 

If this seasonal blend sounds interesting to you, you find it on the shelves of WorldMarket stores and at Amazon.com. 

Happy birthday, Lisa Bonet

 Actress Lisa Bonet turns 55 today.

Bonet was a child actress who rocketed to stardom in the mid-1980s when she portrayed the oldest daughter in a wholesome nuclear family on "The Cosby Show" (1984-1991), but saw her career knocked off its track by scandal and moral outrage when she then portrayed a sexy (and sexually active) teenaged voodoo priestess in the horror film "Angel Heart" (1987). (Bonet's move probably wouldn't have caused even a ripple these days, what with borderline child porn showing up on Netflix with virtually no issues.)

Here's a look back at Bonet during various points over the decades since.

Bonet married musician and songwriter Lenny Kravitz in 1987, and they had one daughter together, Zoe. Bonet only worked sporadically during the 1990s and 2000s; some say her career remained stalled because of the "Angel Heart" controversy, but Bonet states that she was focused mostly on raising her daughter. Bonet and Kravitz divorced in 1993.

Zoe has followed in her mother's footsteps, both with her goth fashion sense and her career as an actress. Meanwhile, Bonet got together with actor Jason Momoa, and they have two children together. Earlier this year, Bonet and Momoa separated.

It's a Mohammed Monday!

THIS WEEK WITH JESUS & MO

 

Happy birthday, Anne Hathaway!

Actress Anne Hathaway (of "The Dark Knight Rises", "Get Smart", "Alice in Wonderland" and dozens of other films) turns 40 years old today, November 12, 2022. We celebrate this milestone with photos of her through the years, starting with one where she was just a teenager!

On the 11th minute, of the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month...

 ... World War One officially ended. On this day, we now observe Veteran's Day (originally Armistice Day) to honor those who have graced us with their military service. It can be a solemn occasion.

But not here at Shades of Gray.

'Black Paradox' stumbles at the end

Black Paradox (Viz Media, 2022)
Story and Art: Junji Ito
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Four strangers unite around a shared desire to commit suicide and vow to support each other by doing it together. Their attempt goes awry when doppelgangers interfere... and this launches them into a terror-filled journey that could shape not only their destinies but the future of humanity.

"Black Paradox" is a slightly different offering from Junji Ito. While it's got a number of intensely horrific moments, it's mostly a slow-burn work that mixes hints of cosmic horror with urban legends, folk lore, a mounting atmosphere of conspiratorial paranoia, and bits of old-fashioned melodrama. In addition, Ito introduces a cosmology of his own devising and slowly reveals the unique positions the four main characters hold in it... and it all adds up to a thrilling and mysterious ride that keeps growing more intense as the intertwined plotlines of the included stories unfold.

Although "Black Paradox" is told in an episodic format, the episodes become more and more tightly linked as the book progresses. In the end, what emerges is a novel-length tale ala "Remina" but which plays more to Ito's strengths for doing short stories in the way "Sensor" and "Uzumaki" did by having more-or-less standalone episodes linked by an overarching storyline that build toward a single climax.

Unfortunately, as excellent as "Black Paradox" is, it suffers from the same flaw as "Sensor" does: After a spectacular beginning and middle, the end doesn't quite deliver on the promise because it feels rushed and half-baked. The problem is more severe in "Black Paradox", because not only do the last two chapters feel like they are rushed, but there are several important plot elements that remain unexplained, because they are dropped entirely; for example, the doppelgangers mentioned in the teaser summary are never explained. We also needed more development of a couple characters that are introduced during the second half of the book--particularly Dr. Suga--but the rush to wrap things up is so frenetic that there's no room for it. 

So, ultimately, what could have been one of Ito's finest works--and one that might even be rife for a sequel, especially in the light of the dropped plot-threads--is a good and entertaining read, but not great. If it had been more like "Uzumaki" and less like "Sensor", I suspect I would have given it a Ten Rating--there is so much potential set up during the first half of the book that is never fully delivered upon.

If you're a fan of Junji Ito, you won't regret the time spent on "Black Paradox"... but you will find yourself wishing there was more.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Thanksgiving is coming up at the end of the month, and Wonder Woman is getting ready to carve some turkeys!

 

Alice experiences war in Cartoonland

Alice's Little Parade (1926)
Starring: Margie Gay
Director: Walt Disney
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

War breaks out in Cartoonland, and Alice (Gay) leads her animated friends into battle!

I keep hoping that I'll come across an "Alice" film that will show the spark of genius that will, a few years later, would put Walt Disney on the path to building a entertainment empire. However, all I find is proof that his talent was recognizing talent in others and putting that talent to maximum commerical use... but when Disney was helming his own animation projects, they fall short of what was being produced by other animators and studios.

The problems with "Alice's Little Parade" start with the title. It has almost no connection with what happens in this episode. Sure, she parades her troops before they go into battle, but there was more of a parade in the first Alice cartoon than what's in this one. It would have been far better served by a title that invoked what it was about--a war between factions of cartoon characters. (I do realize that the title is a reference to "The Big Parade" (1926), a movie about WWI, but I don't think it serves the cartoon well.)

A more severe problem is the lazy animation. A couple sequences are looped to the point of tedium--the film opens with one of them--and the backgrounds are so sparse that I think that even the Van Beuren animators would feel bad about cashing the paychecks earned creating them.

Finally, although the integration of the live-action footage of the little girl, Alice, was better than in other installments of this series I've watched, there was still very little of it. Compared to the Max Fleischer series that also mixed live-action footage with animation, "Out of the Inkwell", this is a weak effort. Perhaps Disney was constrained by the fact that his live-action performer was a very young child? That might be a sensible theory, as Margie Gay who appears as Alice in this film had already done more than a dozen of them, so maybe it was possible to get a little more elaborate? I will have to specifically look for a few entries toward the end of her 31-episode run to see if that notion holds up.

With all this negativity, you might be wondering why I awarded this film a Five-Star rating. Well, it's a very low Five, but it's based mostly on the fact that I found the portrayal of war between animated characters in this film fascinating. Although it's half-baked (like almost everything about the "Alice in Cartoonland"), there's enough here to show how surreal a conflict between beings who can reshape themselves and their environment at will, can be. (I also loved the cartoon animal field hospital; I don't know whether Disney was making a fourth-wall joke about how generic all the animated characters are in this series, but that's how it came across to me, and I thought it was spot-on as a bit of self-deprecating humor.

"Alice's Little Parade" is great, but it's not completely without merit either. I recommend checking it out if you like early animation... and I invite you to use the Comments section if you think I'm off-base with this review. (The version I've embedded is interesting in that it features a recently composed score that was recorded and synched before a live audience, and features partial restoration to the point where it looks much better than most of the surviving Cartoonland installments.)

Musical Monday with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

Here's an excellent R&B song, with a music video that's part Rocky/sports documentary spoof, part performance video, and all fun! All-in-all, it's a great way to get the blood flowing for another work week!

Survivor (2021)
Starring: Nathaniel Rateliff, Rachel Matthews, Joey Pope, Luke Mossman, and Charles Martin
Director: Brantley Gutierrez

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

What's more fun than a barrel full of monkeys?

Le Tonneau des Danaïdes (aka "A Barrel of Danaides" and "Eight Girls in a Barrel) (1900)
Starring: Georges Méliès
Director: Georges Méliès
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys? A barrel full of women!

I've said previously that the films from pioneering special effects artist and fantasy filmmaker Georges Méliès that are just stage illusions performed and enhanced with in-camera editing. This one falls into that category, but I find it amusing for its reference to relatively obscure characters from Greek myths.

This is also worth watching, because, like pretty much all of Melies' short films, it's better in some ways than modern SFX-driven films. Check it out--it'll only take a couple minutes of your time!